Posts Tagged ‘WILDLIFE POACHING’

Poaching is among major problems facing Katavi National Park located south west of Tanzania. Elephants are the favourite animals targeted for their trophies as their tusks have a growing market in the Far East, said the acting chief park warden, Mr David Kadomo.

Refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and other countries have been blamed for wanton killing of the animals which, he said, has become worse in recent times. He revealed this in a report presented to a team of journalists from various media houses who visited the game sanctuary recently.

Said he: “The killing of wild animals for their trophies is now carried out for commercial interests, with elephant tusks being smuggled through neighbouring countries.”

Ken Bernhard and Bill Clark, Chief of Interpol Wildlife Crimes unit, are raising money for a DNA Forensics Lab to be headquartered at the Kenyan Wildlife Service.

A DNA Forensics lab will identify poached bush meat sold in local Kenyan storefronts.

Contributions for the DNA Forensics lab can be made to The Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation (Lindgergh Foundation), with designations to the Aviation Green Investment Program-DNA Forensics Lab.

The Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, Africa, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a natural wonder of the world. The Serengeti is now in grave danger. The Tanzanian government has approved a highly controversial measure to build a highway that cuts through the migration corridor for millions of wildebeest and zebra. This highway will likely mean the ultimate destruction of the migration, the wildlife, the villages that depend on the tourist trade, and a delicate ecosystem that keeps our planet in balance.

See a clip of the migration in the video below, and an interview with African Wildlife Foundation CEO Patrick Bergin, Ph.D., in which he explains why and how the proposed highway can be rerouted.

Ivory poaching is surging out of control in Africa, a new study says. But scientists say they've found a way to use DNA "fingerprints" to track down the poachers.

The study, which currently appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, says well-armed gangs of poachers have been killing elephants by the thousands. Black-market sales of elephant tusks were relatively rare five years ago but are now at an all-time high.

Police forces across the globe need to learn from environmental NGOs in investigating and exposing poachers and smugglers, according to the chief enforcer of global efforts to halt the illegal wildlife trade.

We know that the global wildlife trade sustains a thriving black market around the world, from exotic pets to species that people eat, sometimes knowing they were acquired illegally and sometimes not.

A lot of times it seems innocent, but if you don't know where the fish you're eating came from, orhow your pet bird arrived in the pet store, you could be contributing to the decline of species populations and their habitats around the world.